Qoobi One, a wireless vacuum tube preamp

Customer

Qoobi Audio Innovations Company is a Holland-based startup founded by designers, audiophiles, and engineers united by their passion for music. They are developing home audio devices to enable people to enjoy high-end tube sound.

Objective

To develop the mechanical design of a wireless tube amplifier, Qoobi One, using a ready-made design of our customer. To choose materials and optimal technologies for prototyping and serial production of the device.

Qoobi receives digital music from a smartphone running Android or iOS, converts it into an analog format and outputs it to a home audio system. The device contains a century of music history: from vacuum tubes to the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology for wireless audio transmission.

In 2017, an enclosure design by Qoobi won the A 'Design Award in Italy, one of the most prestigious design awards in the world.

Solution

We developed the Qoobi One mechanical design according to the technical task by our customer: implemented the board fastening mechanisms, light guides, stiffeners, an assembly scheme. In the process of designing, we also created a 3D-model of the case.

For the selection of the optimal materials and verification of the design documentation, we made prototypes using 3D printing technologies and milling.

We manufactured a prototype using milling and various coatings. Analysis of prototypes helped to check the glow of light guides, to choose the best materials and types of coating, as well as to perform an assembly check.

Non-standard materials were chosen for the production of the case:

Anodized aluminum with manual polishing for an internal enclosure that cools radio tubes, hiding the device's printed circuit board with a digital-to-analog converter and a chip with Bluetooth 5.0 support.

Thin quartz glass with engraving for manufacturing of the outer transparent case of the Qoobi One. It looks impressive and reveals the glowing radio tubes.

LED lighting of the device is controlled by a mobile application.

Outcomes

A ready-made prototype of the Qoobi One was successfully demonstrated at CES-2018, a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.